Miami Sees Spike In Football Ticket Sales After Its Unique "Go To Fewer Games" Campaign

The Univ. of Miami's "Go To Fewer Games!" ad campaign that placed "nearly all of their football marketing efforts" behind selling out home games against North Carolina and Florida State has helped the school sell "more than 2,000 tickets” to the two games, according to Barry Jackson of the MIAMI HERALD. If UM succeeds in selling out the two games, it "would be more than past years." UM has "struggled to sell tickets against non-marquee opponents and determined it didn't make sense to put a lot of time and money into promoting its other five home games." Capacity at Sun Life Stadium for the FSU and UNC games "will be 75,000," while for the other five home games, "tarps will cover a portion of the upper bowl, limiting capacity to 67,000." UM is "encouraged that it has sold 3,600 more season tickets than it had at this point last year," when UM sold 29,917 season tickets, a 24% spike over '12. UM AD Blake James said, "It’s an effort to sell more tickets -- not have people go to fewer games. The goal of this strategy is to get us to two sellouts ... as well as sell as many season tickets as possible." Jackson noted the "unique and creative new strategy" behind the campaign "was the brainchild" of longtime sports exec Jon Spoelstra, father of Heat coach Erik Spoelstra. Jon Spoelstra previously "used that marketing strategy, with successful results," when he worked for the Trail Blazers and minor-league baseball teams in Dayton and Staten Island (MIAMIHERALD.com, 6/30).